User Ratings & Reviews

Pours dark, black but with a seemingly red cast or edges; no head, even upon a good swirl.

Beer was served room temperature which usually highlights nose and flavors at their best. Nose was almost nonexistent! No nose but for a whiff of light cherry fragrance and one really had to stretch and search.

Mouthfeel was thick but without any appeal or character.

Flavors are of burnt charcoal, overcooked red meat and spoiled wine. There is nothing appealing about this beer whatsover. Bad bottle? There's hints of chocolate, hints of cherry and hints of coffee - all of which are simply out of balance, not integrated and not appealing.

Finish is of burnt toast and unappealing bitter coffee. I'll try another bottle tomorrow and revise review if bottle was bad. However, September 09 bottling so unlikely that bottle is bad and also unlikely that there is bottle variation.

Some might say that it will improve and "integrate" and soften with age. I would not agree; this one will never get better. Not a good effort.

(M)- One of the thickest beers I have ever tried. Very very syrup-like thickness; cloying. A rather robust roastedness that caught me off guard. A little off balance and almost too thick to enjoy any more.

(D)- A decent Dopplebock with the addition of oak & cherries. A little disjointed & way too thick to thoroughly enjoy fully. Maybe I should have used this on pancakes? One glass of this was a complete struggle to finish.

Looks like a doppel. Dark amber, small white head that was gone quickly, no lacing. Aroma is a little off-putting. Smells metallic, not really getting any cherry or oak. This smells like old pennies that have been circulating since 1943. Taste has light cherry and some maltiness, but damn, this just isn't very good. I'm not getting any sort of doppelbock flavor out of this one. Cherry is there but in minor amounts, and there's some wood, but not the nice, buttery, vanilla oakiness that I really like. Mouthfeel is about the only thing that's good about this beer. It's creamy, thick, and slightly viscous, but everything else about it is just not good. I actually really like most Widmer Bros offerings, but this one is the biggest let down from them so far. Wish I could get my $8 back.

A-poured to a pint glass and I was very upset, there was no head and no lacing it was flat. I must have gotten a bad bottle that will skew this review.
S-smell was good, heavy malt flavors, smoky oak, and faint cherries.
T-completely flat, no carbonation dissapointment. Has heavy malt taste, sweet with hints of the oak and cherry.
M-no carbonation really sucks
D-I will not chance getting another flat beer, and this one was just too dissapointing. It has potential though, just not an A rating potential

pretty attractive mahogany hued beer with some murky brown qualities that gives a disappointing light tan head that quickly recedes to a small film which leaves traces on the glass.

a bit of cherry candy infiltrates a malty (mostly toffee with some molasses and caramel) aroma thats pretty boring, actually.

a boring doppelbock cannot be enhanced too much by aging it in barrels with cherries, it would seem. the flavor is not as exciting as the idea. toffee, caramel, and molasses with a bit of artificially sweet cherry flavor. a tiny, tiny bit of vanilla and oak from the barrel aging can be detected if you look for it, but falls short in improving the experience. a bit of alcohol is detected on the back end. reminds me a lot of cherry throat drops and caramel candies.

a medium bodied but overly syrupy body only works to accentuate the "candy cherry" or artificial tasting flavors we have working here.

eh. goes down average, maybe. unlike most well-crafted brews, this one gets worse as it warms, and worse as it ages perhaps. This one is almost a year old, yet the flavors still dont quite mesh well. I like tart cherry flavors in some beers, I enjoy doppelbocks, I actually enjoyed Widmer's Prickly Pear Braggot, so when I saw this one marked down to $5, I grabbed it.... I will probably pass on it next time.

A cherry-oak aged doppel? Why not. Poured a dingy reddish-brown with a massive pinkish head. Thick lacing. Smell was a bit medicinal, as in cherry robitussin. Lots of sugar and sweet malt with pleasant oak/vanilla notes. I'm just not sure of what to expect. Syrupy mouthfeel was not pleasant. Taste is a bit of a mess. Again, the cherry oak takes over to the point of sickening me. I let it warm and it got moderately better. You could at least taste some very nice malt and vanilla. However, you still had to endure an ungodly amount of sweetness just to get to what was already a sweet beer. Sorry fellas. This actually had me hoping the 22 oz. bomber was a 12 oz.

From a bottle in my cellar, dated 09/2009, poured into a SA Perfect Pint

A - Pours a cherry-hued, chestnut brown with a scant, fizzy head. Retention settles to a thin and bubbly skim that leaves a fading, slippery lace.

S - Smells super-sweet, and scares me that it's going to be heavy and cloying. There's definitely a fermented fruit thing going on, but I'd be lying if I said cherries was what popped into my head.

T&M - Okay...it's not super heavy and cloying (thankfully). Still super sweet with a huge malt bill. Fruity sugars add to the sweet profile. Feels under-carbonated, but could be a result of aging this bottle. Medium-heavy body along with the sweetness make this a sipper.

O - Not bad, but it needs something, anything, to help balance the sweetness. It never approached cloying for me, but it still felt off-balanced.

A - this Widmer offering is a dark purple/red color, almost pomegranate or sanguine in color, with a thin tan head

S - the nose is definite cherry aromas and vanilla oakiness, its a deep sweetness and fresh woodsy resin

T - the first taste was quite nice, the first note is the vanilla/oak flavors with a tart cherry undertow, which evolves into a dark cherry sweetness, which then morphs into a dark chocolate aftertaste; however, each subsequent taste just tasted more and more oversweet to the point where halfway through my glass it was just too sweet and actually became difficult to finish

M&D - smooth and medium bodied, however oversweetness hurts the drinkability, the falvors are initially complex, but the overpowering sweetness makes this a one dimensional brew

A: pours reddish brown with little to no head.
S: cherry and nutty caramel malt
T: almost too cherry, a bit of oak, malt is sweet. did over pour and got some sediment. cherry is a good bock addition but not this over powering.
M: lingers a while, carbonation is low.
D: its alright. way too much cherry, wont buy again.

Appearance -- Pours a reddish/amber body with a one finger head. No heade retention, no lacing

Smell -- Aroma is very subdued. I am picking up a little bit of maltiness, and hints of cherry.

Taste -- Certainly not a Dopplebock. HOLY CRAP!!! 9@ ABV. Okay, it is a well siguised doppelbock. A nice, mellow, soft maltiness with strong hints of cherries. Maybe a hint of oak. The cherries are pretty good when it is cold, but as it warms, they become quite cloying.

Mouthfeel --Rather thin body for a doppelbock, or even a bock for that matter.

A - deep mahogany in color with chesnutt brown highlights. the head disapates, but tiny bubbles rise up around the rim. not much lacing
S - the cherry is in there, but its subtle. vanilla? a little booze
T - black cherry flavor that builds as it warms. not overpowering, but also not much other depth, just one note that isn't that great
M - a little thinner than expected, low carbonation
D - fairly mellow for the strength, but the complexity is somewhat disapointing for a special limited release. wouldn't recommend it

A: deep reddish brown, hazy with some floaties. tan head and lace.
S: cherries, vanilla, oak, brandy, fruitcake.
T: sweet and sour cherries with some caramel malt notes. strong presence of oak and whisky flavors. has a cough syrup thing going on.
M: full-bodied, viscous. long sweet and sour finish. carbonation is on the light side.
D: this one is a sipper.

taste a fairly oaky upfront taste, which fades to the cherries and the alcohol. I think this is a beer that would benefit from some aging to help meld the oak and cherry flavors, as well as tone back the alcohol presence.

mouthfeel- to sweet, has a syrupy consistency that I could not get past

Bottle shared by the other Matt, perhaps my expectations were high, but I really don't think they were, I eventually decided that I would rather pour this beer out than finish it.

Beer is brown and forms a thin head of brownish bubbles. It leaves a little, very little lacing on the glass. Carbonation is moderate to low. Looks fine.

Aroma is malty, sweet, and has a definite cherry aroma, this is what they want I'm sure, it smells fine.

Beer is way too sweet. The sweetness is immediately followed up by a strong cherry flavor, like cough syrup. Its rough, very rough. I drank about 5 ounces, and I could have finished it, I just didn't want to. There are too many good beers out there to waste time on a mediocre one. Beer is medium bodied, uncarbonated in the mouth, finishes sweet....I wouldn't have ti again.

In theory, this sounded like it would be a pretty tasty beer. However the execution didn't live up to the expectation. Pours a garnet color with a 1/2 inch pinkish head. Aroma is malt and cherries with a hint of oak. Taste is on the harsh side. The flavor of the cherries, oak and malt blend into a somewhat messy flavor profile. There are some hints of chocolate in the background, but the cherry flavor doesn't shine through enough and doesn't taste natural. If found it somewhat of a chore to finish the whole bottle, definitely would not buy it again.

Tried this beer since it was a featured bomber at my local beer store. Let it sit in the fridge for a month or so before trying since I understand it could use some time to mellow, was not enough time. Expected more carbonation even for a doppelbock, thin head faded awfully quick to nothing, left no lacing. When I opened the bottle I realized it was very low on the carbonation side. The intense Cherry Oak aroma was complimented nicely by the flavor but it became over powering half way through the glass. Mouthfeel was on the syrupy side which left a sort glaze on the tongue. Not the most drinkable beer I have ever tried and do not know if it lived up to the price since I think it was about $9.00.

I've held onto this for about a year or so thinking the reserve series would be interesting as it continues to move forward. I guess it didn't take off like I thought it would. So here we go.

A - Pours a dark brown with a beige head that leaves in about a second.

S - Sweet cherry and a hint of malt. Not much else here.

T - Cherry and cherry with a hint of malt. I don't taste the oak or much of the malt I love in a dopplebock.

M - I actually think this is the beers best feature. Nice rich low carbonation that does feel like a dopplebock.

D - Way too sweet. I think if half the cherries were taken out the beer may actually be pretty good.

Overall this is so sweet. If the cherries weren't so apparent the beer may be somewhat decent. I love dopplebocks and got really excited to try this...too bad the sweetness came from the cherries not the malt.

Got this a while back, and figured it might be worth holding onto. Cracked it open tonight in an attempt to drink some of my cellar beer.

Pours a dark brown, with a nice tan head sitting on top. Retention isn't the greatest, and doesn't leave a ton of lacing, but some.

The nose starts out strong on the oak notes, almost completely covering up the base Doppelbock as well as the cherries. As it warms, the cherries come out a little more, but the barrel notes are just so strong it's almost unflattering.

The taste also holds big oak barrel notes, strong and earthy, bitter and dry. Cherries taste old and stale, with a metallic tartness to it, that gradually becomes more and more metallic, until it tastes like your drinking out of an aluminum canteen.

Mouthfeel is medium, with a sharp alcohol sting and crisp carbonation. Drinkability isn't very good.

Overall, was very disappointed with this one. I think it would have been a better beer without the barrel aging, as it just came on too strong and threw off the flavors and aromas of the cherries. What is up with the metallic taste? This could be a good beer, but it just isn't for me.

A: A deep brown in color with a bright red hue. Topped off with a fingers width of cream colored head.

S: A little hard to pull a smell off of this one, but what we can smell is definitely all cherries, and nothing but cherries. Oh well onto the taste, hopefully there is more going on there.

T: Very strong oak presence which is both good, and different from the smell. But now where are the cherries? Were having a hard time depicting any real dark cherry flavor. Then were hit with a sourness which we could do without...wait maybe that's the cherry, if so it smells much better than it tastes...cherry wise that is. Finishes off with a dryness in the mouth on the after palate.

M: Full bodied and smooth, with decent carbonation.

D: Were not huge fans. It would be nice to taste more cherry, and maybe have more complexities in the nose. One bottle is enough, even to share with a friend.

Poured this into a standard tulip glass. Poured a cloudy reddish-amber with a slight creamy head that quickly dissipated into a ring against my glass. Fairly carbonated as a tip of the glass creates a hazy bubbled head to rise to the surface.

The first smell gives a vinous tinge. It is a sweet smell that gives me the impression that this could be a bit tart. Not overly complex, but certainly intriguing.

The taste of my first drink certainly took me by surprise. The beer definitely did not have the tart taste I was anticipating. In fact, it took me several drinks to really even get a handle on what I was tasting; it is quite mild. There is a slight woody taste that isn't surprising (being that this was aged in oak), yet I didn't catch it on the nose. The malty flavors are there, but unfortunately, not very pronounced. Instead, I do get a dark fruit component, but I can't place it as cherries. I figured this would be more prevalent. In between drinks, this reduced to the medicinal taste you used to have in your mouth as a child after drinking some cough syrup...definitely a detraction from the beer. This beer didn't taste as carbonated as it appeared in my glass and was bit yeasty.

Overall, I was not very impressed with this brew. I had an idea in my mind of what I thought this might taste like, and I was way off. Certainly a beer I should have split with someone.

Nose is thick toffee malts, light fruit and some definite oakiness. Touch of vanilla as it warms. Smells more like an Old Ale than a doppel at this point.

Taste has lots of toasty and sweet malts. Big oak flavors and the addition of cherries is notable, though I would certainly not mind a bit more. The malt character is big, and conforms somewhat to the doppelbock style. Alcohol is there aplenty, but does not thin out the beer much. I like where Widmer was going with this beer, but not sure the final result is much to my liking. Tough for me to get through and that was with splitting the bottle with someone.